Heart disease is the single greatest cause of death among Americans. Each year, an estimated 1.2 million Americans have a new or recurrent coronary attack or succumb to fatal coronary heart disease. In addition to the tremendous personal cost, coronary heart disease is an enormous economic burden on the U.S. healthcare system, with an estimated direct and indirect cost of $151.6 billion in 2007. The Ohio Third Frontier, building on world-class technology and expertise in Ohio, has invested in several complementary and collaborative approaches to help solve this tremendous healthcare problem.
The Cleveland Clinic's combined effort, now
represented as the Global Cardiovascular Innovation
Center, is supporting innovative cardiovascular focused
companies through research investments,
collaborations with clinical scientists, and incubation
support. Backed by the reputation and expertise
of the Cleveland Clinic, the Global Cardiovascular
Innovation Center has been successful in creating,
investing in and attracting 35 companies. These new
Ohio companies' technologies include medical devices,
cell-based therapies, and imaging technology that
contribute to cardiovascular health. Further, the Global
Cardiovascular Innovation Center, in collaboration with
an urban development group dedicated to upgrading
the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland, has recently
broken ground on a new 50,000 square-foot incubator
facility near the Cleveland Clinic to further expand and
support companies created and attracted.
The awards in cardiovascular and regenerative medicine complement each other by supporting a broad-based set of technologies to address the problem of heart disease. Their collaborative efforts have resulted in joint research, development, and commercialization projects at numerous Ohio research institutions and biomedical companies that are capturing the attention of venture capital funds to continue the technical advances needed to commercialize cardiovascular products and services. As a result, a true cluster of economic activity focused on curing heart disease has been anchored in Ohio.
Commercialization Summaries:
Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company that engineers stem cell and tissue-based therapies with the goal of developing commercially available stem cell therapies. Although patients with chronic coronary heart disease are offered a number of treatment choices, a significant portion of the affected patient population is unable to withstand surgical intervention. Often referred to as "no-option" cases, these patients are the initial targets for Arteriocyte's cell therapy product - an infusion of cultured stem cells into the heart to stimulate blood flow.
AcelleRX Therapeutics, Inc. is in the development stages of regenerative medicine technologies for treatment of cardiovascular disease. Discovered by Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Marc Penn, the company's product, Stromal Derived Factor - 1, significantly increases cardiac function through promoting cell survival and revascularization after a heart attack, significantly enhancing the efficacy of a broad range of clinical trial stage cell therapies.
Athersys, Inc.'s proprietary MultiStem® system is a biologic product that consists of stem cells used in the treatment of acute heart attacks, potentially eliminating the need for immunosuppressive drugs to damaged cardiac tissue. Obtained from adult bone marrow or other non-embryonic tissue sources, the cells may be produced on a large scale for future clinical use and stored in frozen form until needed.
